Boston Red Sox's Jose Iglesias throws to first base to complete the double play on Toronto Blue Jays' Mark DeRosa in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Boston, Saturday, June 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

DETROIT — The Tigers wouldn’t even admit they were in the market for a shortstop, at least not until the offseason.

They weren’t even sure themselves.

Now they are getting one — and a good one — for insurance in case they lose the one they already have.

Late Tuesday, the Tigers found themselves part of a three-way trade with the Red Sox and White Sox, sending Avisail Garcia and Brayan Villarreal to Boston and bringing shortstop Jose Iglesias back in return.

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Veteran pitcher Jake Peavy headed from Chicago to Boston, in return for Garcia and some minor leaguers, as the final piece of the puzzle.

“We look at him as being our shortstop of the future. ... This guy is special, defensively,” Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said of Iglesias, when announcing the deal in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. “We traded a real good young player for another real good young player, at a position we need right now — or potentially could need. That I know we’ll need next year.”

It finally gives the Tigers protection for the possibility that Jhonny Peralta will get suspended when the Biogenesis penalties are announced later this week. Even if he doesn’t, he’s a free agent at the end of the year. So is his running mate, second baseman Omar Infante.

“When there’s enough smoke, you get to be concerned,” said Dombrowski, admitting that he was in the dark about what might be coming, in terms of penalties. “I’m not at great liberty to talk about that. That’s a Commissioner’s office decision. And I don’t really know what’s going to happen, 100 percent. But I read the same names that you read. And I got concerned.”

Depending on which reports you read, Peralta could be one of the 20-odd players suspended later this week, and miss anywhere from 50 games to the remainder of the regular season and beyond. No one knows how much it will cost the Tigers, who really don’t have the luxury of waiting to let it play out.

“Peralta’s our shortstop, unless he is ruled NOT our shortstop,” Dombrowski said, mentioning that Iglesias can play second or third until needed at shortstop.

That ruling could come down any time, though. And Dombrowski didn’t want to be caught in the lurch.

“It’s a situation where there’s a lot of uncertainty facing (us), which concerned me, especially with our situation, and trying to win a championship. I don’t really know what’s going to happen, as far as timing is concerned, but I also think that when there’s enough things being discussed, you get a little concerned about those things,” Dombrowski said.

“My problem ends up being that after 4 p.m. (Wednesday), I cannot aggressively try to do anything that’s assured. Because after 4 p.m. — again IF anything happens — and people know we’re looking for a shortstop, their shortstops aren’t going to make it through waivers.”

People knew that already, though. Boston GM Ben Cherington put the seed of the trade in the mind of Dombrowski a few weeks ago.

“They reached out to me a few weeks ago, when they saw the reports. And I said, really not doing anything at the time. We were set at shortstop, so don’t really need to do anything at the time,” the Tigers GM said.

But the Red Sox were already on the list of teams the Tigers had assembled to make contact with, when the season was over, in hopes that they could fix a more long-term problem at shortstop.

“For us, as you’re looking forward, you’re looking at where you have holes, and potential free agents, and where you can cover yourself. Well ... we know we have a free agent at second base, a free agent at shortstop, some free agents in the bullpen, and all of a sudden, where I wasn’t so sure where we’d be going with that, I think we’re in a spot where our goal is not only to be good this year, and the last couple of years, but to be good for years to come. I think that’s what you’re always looking to do, if you can,” Dombrowski said.

“And I think this is a situation where all of a sudden, if you do lose some players, you say, ‘Hey, we’ve got some good, young guys that can help us at those spots, and are ready to play right now.’

“Just like (Nick) Castellanos. I think he’ll be ready to play right now. But will he play? I don’t know, because it depends how the club comes together, but all of a sudden, you start talking about (Hernan) Perez, and Iglesias, and Castellanos and (Bruce) Rondon — that’s a pretty good group of young guys that you can complement to some of the veterans, that we know will be with us, that are in the prime of their careers.”

It’s nice to plan for the future, but in Detroit, the future is now.

This is a World Series-or-bust type of team, at this point, and the likelihood of being able to live with a second-tier, replacement-level player at shortstop didn’t sit well with the team’s front office.

“The way I look at it — there’s two different ways to look at it, and unfortunately I don’t know the total answer here. But if you’re talking about 15 days disablement, we’re prepared for that. I mean, (Argenis) Diaz, (Danny) Worth, (Ramon) Santiago. They’d prepare you for 15 days,” Dombrowski said. “Fifty days, if it comes to that, and a postseason run, not saying you may not win with that, but you’d like to be stronger. And this puts us in a stronger position.”

It certainly helps that Iglesias is a defensive whiz.

He’s currently hitting .330 — after his average was as high as .451 in mid-June — with limited power, but his forte is with the glove.

“Our scouting reports have him as an All-Star shortstop. I don’t know if he’ll be that, or not, but some of our scouting reports do. Somebody that has seen him play just sent me a note and said ‘In all my years in the game, the only two defensive shortstops I’ve seen that are better are Ozzie and Vizquel,’ ” Dombrowski said. “It’s the whole package. ... When I just talked to Ben Cherington, he said ‘I know you have seen a lot of players play shortstop in your career, but you will see this guy make plays you’ve never seen before.’

“Now, I don’t want to put that on his back, but he’s a real good shortstop.”

The Tigers had to give up a real good outfielder to get him, though.

Garcia has spent time with the Tigers each of the last two seasons, and is considered a five-tool player. Villarreal was an oft-asked-after prospect in the offseason, who’s appeared in 73 games with the Tigers over the last three seasons.

“I’ve never been hesitant with that (trading in-division). That doesn’t faze me. And I fully expect Garcia to be a real good player. And I don’t really want to watch him play 18 times a year. I’m sure he’s going to beat us at some times during that time period. And there will be times where people say, ‘That Dombrowski wasn’t very smart’ when he does that,” the GM said.

“But I think it’s more important about the player we got in return.”

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.